American Maglev Technology

Representative Vance Smith, Jr., Georgia, Chair of the SLC’s Economic Development, Transportation & Cultural Affairs Committee toured American Maglev Technology (AMT) Inc.’s facility in Powder Springs, Georgia on June 9, 2009.* Chairman Smith was shown around the facility by Tony J. Morris, Chief Executive Officer of AMT, who provided a historical summary of AMT, a demonstration of deploying a magnetic field to lift and propel an object (in this instance, a passenger rail car) and a short test ride in AMT’s rail car at the facility. Mr. Morris noted that Maglev technology is decades old and has been utilized in several global settings. He added that “AMT has incorporated the technological brilliance of frictionless transport on a half-inch magnetic field with a market-driven business model, allowing for the construction and operation of inter- and intra-city maglev systems at a fraction of the cost of foreign maglev and traditional steel-wheels-on-steel-track” systems. Work on the Powder Springs, Georgia, test site began in spring 2006, when AMT, with assistance from new investors in its technology, broke ground on a new test site. By summer 2007, it was fully operational with components and efforts from 118 companies in 77 Congressional districts and 26 states.

* On June 25, 2009, Chairman Smith resigned his legislative seat and became the new Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) of The Council of State Governments was established in 1947 and comprises presiding officers and key legislators from 15 Southern states. The SLC is a non-partisan organization located in Atlanta, Georgia.